Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 13: The Orissa State Road Transport Corporation’s premium bus service ‘Airabata’ scheduled to launch service August 1 is virtually a non-starter.
The OSRTC authorities in July announced that its premium bus service ‘Airabata’ comprising Volvo and Scania vehicles will commence operations August 1.
A trial run was also proposed in July on Cuttack-Puri-Bhubaneswar route to finalise the road map and schedules of the services.
Although OSRTC deputy general manager (Technical) DK Upadhyay had announced the corporation proposal to run one Volvo and one Scania bus (45 seats each) on an experimental basis on Cuttak-Puri-Bhubaneswar route around car festival time, the trial run has remained a non-starter, let alone the actual service.
When contacted, a senior OSRTC official said the corporation has difficulty in finalising the fare structure per head per km for the luxury bus service which will be the first of kind in the state.
The official said the corporation has been holding talks with concerned stakeholders who may lend buses for hiring and after the deal is struck fares and trial run will be finalised. The government has been reviewing fare structure of such premium bus service in other states.
The trial run of the bus is expected to be completed by middle of October.
“We have indented Volvo to deliver buses by the first week of October, six buses will be inducted initially,” an official said, adding, “After the trial run the operations will begin shortly.”
Scania buses will be operated on airport-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and airport-Puri routes after finalisation of routes, timing and fare.
However, the Volvo buses will be operated on long routes across state, the sources added.
Officials who proposed the luxury bus services have also studied models of transport facilities in the neighbouring states and elsewhere in the country.
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu regional transport services have set exemplary efficiency in operating Volve long-distance services earning profit, thanks to the prevalent road infrastructure in those states. Orissa’s transport honchos need to take a leaf out of the
examples.
